Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 6, 1994 TAG: 9403040180
SECTION: ROANOKE MEMORIAL HOSPITALS PAGE: RMH-13 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By JOANNE ANDERSON
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"Patients in intensive care units (ICU) are often having medication administered and various procedures performed at intervals around the clock," said Nancy Altice, R.N., a clinical nurse specialist. "It's easy for them to become disoriented when they can't even discern night from day."
Pastoral scenes have been painted on walls in some hospitals to enhance the recovery process, but the real thing is right out the windows from the new South Pavilion. The spacious family/visitor waiting areas on each of the floors with intensive care units are nestled into another curve in the glass exterior.
Nurse stations in the ICU are parallel to the rooms, i.e., in the same arc pattern, with a bank of screens in the center to monitor patients. Cameras for the isolation room on each end of the ICU rooms are also mounted at the nurse station.
A plum accent wall lends warmth to the nurse stations, as does the gold paint in alcoves and small spaces.
The floor covering throughout the building is a vinyl composition tile whose neutral color is called desert dust. A premier quality flooring material, it has been laid on a 45-degree diagonal with a black feature stripe every 10 feet.
The new intensive care rooms are cradled in the semi-circular glass wall on the south end of the new building. Each one has a glass wall to the outside and glass doors on the inside corridor.
Two of the ICU rooms are isolation rooms to handle the predicted increase of patients with infectious disease such as tuberculosis resistant patients. Cameras with attached microphones are in these rooms and transmit to the nurse station keeping patients in view all the time.
Patients will benefit from increased bedside nursing capabilities. "There's more storage in each ICU room," explained Phyllis Wertz, director of patient care services. "Supplies like clean dressings and fresh linens can be stored in the patient rooms. Besides saving time by not having to go for supplies, the nurse will be able to maintain direct contact and vision with the patient.
Becky Garrison, interior decorator with JMGR Architects, explained that "in critical care areas, less color is used to minimize confusion between medical equipment, staff and patient." Blue or green highlights provide a soothing hue.
Original works of art of floral landscapes or cut flowers are displayed in each room. Mini-blinds were selected as treatment for all windows, according to Garrison, because of their clean, contemporary appearance and easy maintenance.
Each room is equipped with a compact, fold-up cabinet which when opened, contains a sink, toilet and a little storage space. The unit can also be used as a connection for dialysis.
The cardiac intensive care unit on the sixth floor is referred to as cardiac surgery intensive care or CSICU. The coronary care unit, or CCU, on the seventh floor is primarily for cardiac patients who have not had surgery, but perhaps have had a heart attack or another cardiac problem. Medical/surgical intensive care, on the eighth floor, is a merger of respiratory and medical/surgical intensive care units. Neuro-Trauma intensive care in on the ninth floor.
PROGRESSIVE CARE UNIT
Patients in these rooms may or may not require comprehensive monitoring and observation, but do need a high level of nursing care.
"Patients in the PCU can move about because we use remote telemetry monitors," stated Marie Hansbarger, nurse manager for the medical/surgical PCU. "Antennas are mounted in the ceiling to transmit patient information to the PCU nurse station."
There are five semi-private rooms and 15 private rooms. The semi-private rooms have a blue or green highlight in the headwall unit.
The decorating objective throughout the pavilion, Garrison said, was to produce a "sophisticated, high-tech, yet relaxed atmosphere; an interior which is comforting, soothing, yet stimulating. The non-institutional approach fosters confidence in technology without forgetting the human side."
by CNB